Considering the content of the qualification structure

When considering the content of the qualification structure the QDT should, in the first instance, determine suitability of existing catalogue of National Qualifications (2.99 MB) and/or HN Catalogue (2.61 MB) provision to avoid proliferation of Units and reduce development costs.

Where a Unit has been identified as being suitable for inclusion in a new development the Unit must be cross checked against the Unit withdrawal notification report for National (47 KB) and Higher National (60 KB) to establish whether it is due to be finished.

Units on the report can be retained however, Units that are in an old Unit specification, must be updated to the current Unit specification. Requests to retain and/or re-instate Units will be considered where there is clear evidence of demand. Requests should be e-mailed to QPMTeam@sqa.org.uk

It is SQA's policy to encourage the development of generic rather than contextualised Units, ie we would validate a Unit called Presentation Skills but would not validate a Unit called Presentation Skills for Accountants. Instead, we would encourage contextualisation during teaching, learning and assessment, and through the production of expanded support notes or distinct assessment support packs. This approach will result in clearer standards. It will also help with identifying the 'ownership' of a Unit both within colleges (which department is responsible for the subject) and in SQA (which verification group the Unit belongs to).

There may be occasions when existing Units are still fit for purpose and do not need to be re-written. The minimum requirement is that the Unit is updated into the current Unit Specification and it is SCQF credit rated and levelled. Information about the SCQF framework and level descriptors is available on the SCQF website.

Any significant changes to the mandatory section of a Unit would be deemed as revision, so would need to follow the process for new and revised Units.